The Northern Emancipation Network (NEN), has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately withhold the screening exercise for the promotion of top federal civil servants in the country.
The group said alternatively, President Buhari should order the recall of a comprehensive review of the entire exercise by an independent panel to ensure fairness to all.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja on Monday, the Convener of the group, Suleiman Abbah said the attention of the Northern Emancipation Network (NEN) was drawn to the series of what it called “unjust and unfair handling” of the latest screening exercise for the promotion of top federal civil servants.
It observed that the process was initiated by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation via a Circular No HCSF/CMO/154/VOL1/5 dated November 24, 2021, and signed by Dr Folasade, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
He stated the letter meant to kick-start a chain of processes for the appointment of Permanent Secretaries to fill existing vacancies, had specified the states where the vacancies existed as Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Cross River, Jigawa, Sokoto and Taraba States.
The Convener explained that key among the specified requirements by the circular was that interested persons must have come from the states listed above and must be at the rank of director on salary grade level 17 as of 1st January 2020.
Suleiman Abbah further explained that the notice explicitly stated that the process would involve a written examination, ICT proficiency test and an interactive session with a panel of experts and practitioners.
He observed that consequent upon the said circular, about 74 candidates including applicants for the post of Solicitor General of the Federation presented themselves and sat for the written Examination conducted on February 21, 2022.
He added that a certified document from the office of the Head of Service showed the score grades for all the 74 candidates with the highest points at 74.00 by the officer with civil service No. FCS/PSE/02/2022/020.
At the end of the ICT Proficiency Test, he explained that 11 people were listed as having qualified for the final stage and were invited to an oral interview/interactive session which held on February 28, 2022.
Consequently, he lamented that the outcome of the interactive Session appeared to be nothing short of “a warped exercise and an insult to the federal Civil Service of Nigeria and the collective sensibilities of Nigerians generally.
“We note that in the outcome, the officers with the highest grades in the written examination which is the most important segment and who also made it through the ICT Proficiency Test, the next most important level, were purported to have failed the oral interaction without specifying the standards adopted,” he alleged.
He added, “As representatives of the vast majority of various interest groups from the country, we are worried that while President Muhammadu Buhari is concerned with reforming the country’s civil service, those saddled with responsibilities appear not to be carrying forward his vision.”
The Convener noted that the group is afraid that moving from where they are to where they need to be with regards to sanitizing the civil service sector will remain a mirage if President Buhari allows this glaring inequity to pass.
“The nation is not wrong when it insists that President Buhari’s image and vision are not being served by the quality and competence of many of the people currently being assembled to work to stabilize the nation’s civil service and see the nation through this difficult period,” he said.
